Metamagic
Metamagic -Metamagic is either a whole new aspect to an existing ability, like being able to conjure Great Form spirits, or adding abilities that the mage never had in the first place, such as Anchoring's ability to bind sorcery into an object. -One must be an initiate to learn metamagic, and can only learn one metamagical technique for every initiation ritual they undergo. -One can only learn metamagic that they can actually use. For example, an adept cannot learn metamagic that is related to conjuring, because an adept cannot conjure. -Metamagic must be learned from someone or something, there are several ways this can be done: --The simplest way is to learn from an initiate who already knows the metamagic. --If one is already an initiate themselves, they can travel to the deep metaplanes through undergoing an "astral quest", emerging from the experience with knowledge of the technique. (An extensive RP must be done with others in as is spoken about in the Metaplanes notecard and submitted for approval) --If a powerful magical being such as a dragon or free spirit is ever encountered, they are able to teach most metamagic techniques. Metamagical Techniques Anchoring -Anchoring allows an initiate to create a special "anchoring focus." This focus can have a spell placed inside of it, that will activate when a certain condition is met. -The trigger condition can be anything from a word spoken to a particular action performed. -The trigger can only be used, however, if the anchoring focus is physically touching the person who is triggering it. -The drain of the spell is drained out of the mage when the focus is used, making reusable anchors very dangerous to let just anyone use. -Other more exotic triggers can be used, but this requires both a the spell that the focus casts AND a detection spell to be bonded to the focus. The drain of both must be paid. -Examples of Anchoring Foci: --A necklace which produces a Physical Barrier spell when triggered. The trigger is a Detect Object spell keyed to detect bullets (A magical bullet shield). --An elixir of some kind in a bottle which provides a Heal spell, being triggered when one drinks it (Health Potion). --A cellphone which produces a Fireball spell, triggered by the one holding it saying the word "Hello" (Magical Bomb). -There are two kinds of anchoring foci: expendable (one time use) and reusable (can use them as many times as you want). Attunement -Allows an adept to magically bond themselves to an item or animal. -No matter what is being bonded, the adept must spend at least a month of RP getting to know the animal or item until knowledge of how to handle it is second nature. Animal -May bond to either a fairly regular sized animal (anywhere from a cat to a horse), a swarm of small animals (rats, spiders, ect), or take an extra month to commune with a massive creature such as a whale or elephant. -Only works on non-sentient animals (things of "animal" intelligence). -May communicate with the animal with a subtle form of telepathy or empathy. There is no promise that the animal will do what the adept tells them, but they at least know what the adept wants. -As long as the animal is nearby (within the same sim layer: Redmond, Downtown, ect), the adept can "see through their eyes" so to speak. This is able to make use of any of the animal's senses, though doesn't "possess" the creature. Item -After the month spent getting to know the object (gun, car, radio, ect), the magical bonding acts as a tie breaker. If in a situation where the adept and another player have equipment and skills of equal strength, the Attunement metamagic breaks that tie in the adept's favor. Centering -Allows the mage to use a particular "creative skill" to focus their magic use better. For Mages -While using their creative skill, the mage shaves 1 drain off of all magic actions performed (anyone trying to counter a spell or banish a spirit still has to pay the "normal" drain though). For Adepts -Adepts can use centering as a "tie breaker" any time they meet someone with the same abilities as them or an ability that directly counters theirs. Every time the adept initiates, they can choose one more ability that centering helps them be more focused on. Creative Skill -Must be something that requires dedication and focus. -May often be speaking obscure languages, playing an instrument, dancing in a particular style, sculpting, ect. Channeling -Allows a mage to channel the power of the spirits they summon. -The mage takes the spirit into their body, gaining the Fortitude, Really Strong and Really Fast traits. -While channeling the spirit, they're able to use its powers as if they were the spirit, however they also gain its weaknesses (such as a hermetic who is channeling a fire elemental being vulnerable to water attacks). -If a Great Form spirit is channeled, the mage also becomes almost unstoppable by any small arms weapons short of explosives and/or armor piercing ammunition. -Nothing can be done to damage or banish the spirit while it is being channeled; it has been consumed by the aura of the mage. -The ability is straining, and will last only for a few minutes, after which the mage falls unconscious if they lack the Fortitude trait. -Astral projection or anything that renders the summoner unconscious ends the channeling. -Channeling a spirit ends all further services that it may owe to the one who conjured it. Cleansing -Used to clean away "background count" from an area. -Cannot remove the background count that is being caused by something that is still causing it. The background count caused by the pollution in a river cannot be removed until the river has been cleaned. -Cannot remove background count from places of extreme historical suffering (Great Pyramids, Auschwitz, Hiroshima, ect). -Cleansing will also remove all astral traces from an area, the magical equal of pouring bleach on a crime scene. -Must spend Drain: 4 to use. Divining -Allows an initiate to try and predict the future. -This may be done in any number of ways, from Tarot cards, to watching flocks of birds to interpretation of dreams. -The predictions made by this technique may be vague and uncertain, as the future is always in motion. -What divination does NOT let you do: '--Demand information from another player. --Predetermine how an RP will turn out.' Infusion -Allows an adept to "overclock" their ability to control their gifts of magic. -Can only be learned by adepts who practice Centering. Use of Infusion involves using the adept's centering technique. -Lets the adept temporarily gain one new power, or temporary apply a "tie breaker" to an old one. -After the "encounter" is over (the battle they are in, the rp scene, whatever), the adept falls unconscious if they lack Fortitude. In addition, their magical abilities will "burn out" (stop working) for the remainder of the day. Invoking -Allows the conjuring of extremely powerful "Great Form" sprits. -While the spirit produced is more powerful, its total cost is multiplied by 2. -If this drain knocks the summoner unconcious, the elemental goes on a crazed rampage, like usual, but remains of normal size and power. -There are no Great Form ancestor spirits or watcher spirits. -All great form spirits have the Fortitude character trait. If they already have this trait, it is doubled in strength. -Great Elementals are massive versions of their normal selves (one or two stories minimum), able to use their powers on any number of people within chat range as a single service. Additionally, Great Elementals can produce showy special effects appropriate to their element: water elementals bursting water mains and pipes or direct water flows like a fire hose, fire elementals can cause anything that can burn to catch fire within chat range, earth elementals can produce earthquakes of 4-5 on the Richter scale and air elementals can produce gale force winds that make driving difficult and walking next to impossible. -Great Nature Spirits can cross into other spirit domains. Spirits of the land, sky or sea are all able to conjure great storms, while spirits of man are able to use divining metamagic to answerer almost any question about their domain. -Great Loa are bigger and bolder versions of their normal selves. They are able to possess anyone connected to the astral, not just Houngan or Servitors, and generate a magical illusion that causes those who they possess to change appearance to look like the Loa. In addition to the normal powers they bestow, when a Great Loa possesses a host, they become virtually unstoppable by small arms short of armor piercing ammunition and/or explosives. -Great Spirits of the Elements can go anywhere, they aren't restricted to within a certain range of their summoning. They have the ability to conjure great storms, just as Great Nature Spirits, and can all perform cleansing metamagic. Limited Astral Projection -Allows an adept who is capable of astral perception, to project themselves like a full mage (with a few drawbacks). -Being as the adept's powers are rooted in their body as opposed to the flows of mana outside of it, they may only project for six minutes, instead of six hours. -Adept powers work like normal in the astral planes. Masking -Normally, a quick aura read can tell if someone is magical and just how powerful of a magic user they are. Masking allows this to be hidden. -Unless doing something to show how powerful they really are, an initiate who is using masking is considered to always have the ability "turned on." -To see through a mask, the mage trying to aura read must have initiated the same number of times or more. -If a mage who can mask wants to make sure they aren't seen, they can actively focus on hiding their aura. They cannot do any other magical things while they are so focused, but it takes another initiate of around twice their grade to see through the mask. -The mage can also mask one spell or active foci for every initiation ritual they have undergone. (Someone who has initiated 3 times, can hide up to three spells or foci from being seen on the astral planes). '-Masking can also be used to:' --Make the mage look mundane when having their aura read. --Make the mage look like a normal mage (IE, not an initiate). --Make an astrally perceiving person look like they aren't astrally perceiving (quite a surprise when a spirit or projecting mage realizes a "mundane" guy can both see them and is punching them). The same can be done for those who are astrally projecting, but since there isn't a physical body attached, the illusion wont work for anything but a casual glance. Possessing -Allows the initiate to possess the body of anything that has a presence on the astral planes (anything dual natured or astrally perceiving). -Must be astrally projecting to use this technique, essentially just mounting into another body instead of their own. An astral presence is needed because the initiate will not have the same magical link to someone else's body as they do to their own. -To possess an unwilling victim, they must be fought and defeated on the astral planes. If they are also astrally projecting, their body can only be taken if it is within chat range when they are defeated. -A willing host can accept the mage into their body without any need for astral combat. In either case, the person being possessed is unconscious. -If possessing someone who is rigging, decking or doing anything else where their senses are "plugged in" to something else, the mage suffers dumpshock (being dumped out of the system with a bad headache) when the possession is undertaken. They can, afterwards, try to use the body to deck or rig on their own. -Can only stay in a body for one hour for every grade of initiation. (A mage who has undergone four initiation rituals can stay in a body for four hours). "In the Saddle" -Can make use of any physical traits or natural abilities of the host body (including adept powers or innate abilities of a non-sentient magical animal), but not their learned skills, memories, spells, ect. -Can use magic, but it hurts just as bad as trying to use magic in the astral planes. Full use of daily drain results in death, some degree of injury that can only be healed by time will result from any degree of magic use (the more magic use, the greater the damage). -Non-physical magic (like the standard combat spell) will hurt the mage possessing the body, not the body its self, as it is the mage's soul that is being targeted. Injuries to the body are inflicted like normal. -When the mage leaves the body, the previously possessed person will generally be unconscious unless they are particularly hardy (IE, have Fortitude). Either way, they will remember nothing of the experience. Psychometry -A much deeper form of aura reading, used on people, places and things. -Allows an the initiate performing the reading to pick up deep emotional impressions, events in the assensed noun's past or even see through the eyes of a person they are reading or who was holding an object they are reading. -It may take several minutes of reading to try and pick up any kind of impressions, made all the more difficult by any conflicting impressions (like trying to read a frequently used church where a recent murder occured). Quickening -Used to make sustained sorcery spells (ones that must be "kept going" by the mage) last forever. -Cannot perform any other magical act while trying to quicken a spell. -Performing a quickening once a week: The spell is just the normal spell, but lasting forever. It can be removed by another mage who can use sorcery paying the same amount of drain used to cast it. -Performing a quickening once a month: The spell is otherwise normal, but, it costs twice as much drain as was spent to cast the spell, to remove it. -Tattoo quickening: Special magical tattoos can be used to hold a quickened spell, also requiring twice the drain spent to cast the spell, to remove it. The tattoo inks must be blended of exotic herbs refined for magical use. The tattoo takes around a week to fully pen, and must cover around 500-1000 square cm (a rather large tattoo). Reflecting -Allows a mage who counters a spell (by paying the same amount of drain used to cast the spell), to spend one extra drain to instead throw the spell back at the person who casted it. -If the mage who has their spell reflected back at them ALSO knows the reflecting technique, they can pay the drain again, and TWO extra drain to re-reflect it. This can go on forever, until someone runs out of the magical power to reflect the spell. Sheilding -Allows the initiate to protect themselves and others from hostile magic in addition to normal abilities to "counter" sorcery. -Lets the initiate counter sorcery cast on themselves or others for one less drain for every initiation ritual they have undergone. -Aside from themselves, the initiate can stretch their power to protect one person for every initiation ritual they perform. Somatic Control -Allows an adept such control over their body that they can temporarily alter their physiology. -Can only be learned by adepts who practice Centering. Use of Somatic Control involves using the adept's centering technique. -Using this technique, an adept who has any of the extraordinary physical traits (Fortitude, Really Strong or Really Fast) can trade it for another one on the fly. -Doing this may knock the adept unconscious if they lack Fortitude (naturally, not due to this ability), when the body assumes its natural traits (after the current RP they are in has ended). -In addition, the adept will suffer from soreness, joint pain and any number of physical aches and pains due to shifting their body so. Virtuoso -A metamagical technique of adept artists. -Lets the adept infuse their artistic abilities with their magic to produce a single perfect work of art. -Puts their heart and soul into the work of art (be it a creation such as sculpture, painting, drawing, ect or performances like plays or dances), creating an emotional background count which radiates from the piece its self (either any time it is performed, or the area around the physical object). -Is almost an intoxicating drug to those who can access the astral to really feel it. -Even mundanes can feel the emotional impact created by the work, though don't feel it on the intense, intoxicating level that magical people can. Category:Magic